Waste Water Monitoring System based on in-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance – Wa2MOS

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or "forever pollutants," are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds widely used in numerous everyday products, such as non-stick coatings, waterproofing agents, and firefighting foams. Their long-term accumulation and persistence in the environment pose serious health and ecological risks, the full extent of which is not yet fully understood. As a result, increasingly strict European regulations are being implemented to control their use.

In this context, the Wa2MOS project aims to develop an innovative device for continuous monitoring of PFAS concentrations in aqueous environments and for issuing alerts when critical thresholds are exceeded. Specifically, this device will target wastewater, both at the inlet of wastewater treatment plants, to determine whether a specific depollution treatment is required, and at the outlet of factories using PFAS, to proactively detect potential leaks and prevent contamination of natural environments.

The measurement method chosen for this project is Fluorine-19 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Unlike conventional methods, which require bulky equipment, are difficult to reuse, and are poorly suited for field measurements, portable NMR offers several key advantages such as i) the detection of a wide range of PFAS, even at very low concentrations; ii) a compact and mobile solution, facilitating in situ deployment; and iii) an improved reusability, thereby reducing analysis costs.

The project brings together two partners: the ICube laboratory at the University of Strasbourg/CNRS, an expert in instrumental electronic systems, and the Institute for Microsystems Technology at Hochschule Furtwangen, specializing in the miniaturization and integration of microsystems. The three-year project is structured into five workpackages (WP). Three of them focus on developing the three main components of a portable NMR device: the magnet, the coil, and the control electronics. For each of these components, the work will include a modeling phase, component design, manufacturing, assembly, and characterization. The fourth WP will focus on integrating these three building blocks into a complete device capable of performing NMR measurements. Finally, the last WP will cover project coordination and communication activities.

The project, planned over three years, will be divided into three main phases. During the first phase, over the first 18 months, the consortium's researchers will focus on developing an initial prototype of the elementary components described above. In the second phase, over the following year, part of the effort will be devoted to integrating these prototypes into a demonstrator, while the other part will work on their optimization. Finally, the last six months of the project will be dedicated to system-level optimization rather than focusing on individual components.

If successful, Wa2MOS will represent a major breakthrough in the environmental monitoring of PFAS. The results will be disseminated through scientific publications in high-impact journals and potentially exploited for commercial or academic applications, paving the way for other environmental monitoring solutions. Through this project, the consortium aims to establish itself as a key player in developing new solutions for monitoring emerging contaminants, thereby strengthening its role in the transition toward more sustainable water resource management.